I had been a big fan of books since my childhood. After all, we didn’t have TVs or cell phones for entertainment. We would either be at the playground or doing something productive at home, like making handcrafted items. I also spent my leisure hours reading the newspaper, specifically the sports and current affair sections. As for proper reading, I was only into short story books in Marathi. That is, until college life beckoned.
One of my close friends was an avid reader. I would go with him to the library whenever he needed to check out or return a book. After a few visits to the library, I found that a lot of people actually enjoyed reading. During my several interactions with some of the readers there, I learned that every reader had their own reading preferences.
When I started pursuing my engineering degree, I only read my curriculum books. It would be a while before I began reading non-academic books. In 2005, I relocated to Pune for work. During those days, I realized that I needed to improve my language skills, both spoken and written, considering my new work profile. It also helped that the company’s managing director, my immediate boss, was an avid reader. He read novels whenever he had a few minutes to spare. He shared some interesting experiences with me and told me how he had benefited from his reading habits.
This is what got me giving a serious thought to reading. Ultimately, I began taking a few minutes out every day to read. Initially, it was rather difficult to manage my time, but as I got hooked to reading, I didn’t have to make any efforts to grab a book and read it. I have been reading for about half an hour every day for the last decade or so. During this time, I have read novels, autobiographies, fiction, non-fiction, and spiritual books. Robin Sharma, Sudha Murty, and Chetan Bhagat are some of my favorite authors.
I have benefited immensely from my reading habit. For starters, I got to experience multiple lives over the course of one. I also learned a lot about different places, cultures, and traditions, not to mention historical events. Books also motivated me to become a better version of myself.
If you are someone who is yet to give books a chance, there’s no better time to start than now.
A NOTE TO OUR READERS
If you too are an Indian reader with a story to tell, we are all ears. Getting your story published on Ameya is pretty straightforward, actually. Just click on the button below, fill in the applicable fields and start typing. Once you are done, hit ‘submit’. If you don’t quite fancy the idea of filling random contact forms on the Internet, relax – we’ve got all bases covered! You can simply email your story to us at support@booksameya.in. Once we’ve received your story, our team will get in touch with you and apprise you of its publishing status. Yes, it’s that simple!